We are only as good as our ability to rest, recover & sleep well. I see it too much in my field, clients starting training with me with an amount of stress that exacerbates a plethora of problems that hinder their ability to get healthy, strong and be functional in a way that is befit of a productive human in today's society. Don't be that guy! Take stock of what you value and really need survive and thrive and weed out the stressors that are causing you harm and level up... Reach those goals...
Here are a few tips to shuttle you into the parasympathetic nervous system; the "rest and digest" state. The other one is called the sympathetic nervous system and is concerned with "fight or flight". I'm not saying we don't need both... but too many people are in the latter for too long in their long days.
Rest
What's that right? I can't do that, i have too many important things to do. The kids are sick, work is demanding more of me everyday, the wife is on my back to paint the house, my knee is sore, I'm trying to get jacked like this guy to the left of me, my mates haven't seen me in months.... i could go on and on with excuse or reasons why we need to keep pushing through. But when is enough enough. Doctors these days, will not interject and tell you that you are about to burn out. Neither will they say that your cortisol and other stress hormones are too high and you could possibly develop some kind of illness that is hard to reverse.
NO! It's up to us.
When I have rested plenty, trained in accordance with how I am feeling on the day, meditate, listen to my body, pay attention to my thoughts and behavior, I have noticed that I actually operate better. My anxiety seems to vanish, I have better self worth, I think clearer, I am nicer to people, I do my job better, I am a better father. No science here. No research papers. Just good ol' fashioned experiments on myself. You try it.
I have been listening to this for over 10 years. It's called a body scan. I do this and others like it most days. It's my opportunity to be by myself and with myself fully. Try it for a year and "see what happens"
But be consistent. At least 5 times a week.
Recovery
This is pretty straight forward for me now. MFR, infared, float and decompression tanks, massage, compression garments, quality foods after training, mineralised water, swimming, nourishing movements. Hopefully I can pass on some knowledge here.
MFR stands for myofasical release. The fascia is the thin layer of substance in between the skin and muscle. It links the body from head to toe. It has a way of connecting the body so it operates as a total unit, not separate piece of limbs and such.
Here is Tom Myers explaining it in detail.
I have also made a video of how to release the basics. I would strongly recommend doing deep tissue fascia release every day. So that when you move, your muscles and joints operate in a free flowing state. This will help with things like calcification and joint tracking issues too.
Sleep
Here is something that has been researched a lot. So let me circumvent all that for you.
Go to be at the same time every time. This establishes good sleep hygiene.
Keep EMF's (Electro magnetic frequencies. These are frequencies that get emitted from things like, laptops, mobile phones, tv’s etc. And then you have the blue light that gets emitted from these devices too. So wearing blue light blocking glasses at night is advised.
Sleep in a blacked out room. If you are unable to do this, wear an eye mask. You can spend the money and get blacking out curtains too.
Temperature is an important one. I’ve heard that about 23 degrees is great for most people. So try it out and see what happens.
Don’t eat at least 2 hours before bed. If you do wake up during the night, don’t eat. The ability to digest your food will cause you to not get into a deep sleep again.
For an objective sleep study by yourself, get an Oura ring. It’s the best sleep and heart rate tracker on the market. The things you want to track is deep sleep, rem and heart rate variability. The best scores are deep and rem over 1.5 hours a night. And you HRV, the higher the better.
